Explosion Damages Water and Power Supply in Kosovo

An explosion damaged a water canal and temporarily cut off water and power supplies in Kosovo on November 29. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the blast was a “terrorist attack” conducted by neighboring Serbia.

• Approximately 30 to 45 pounds of explosives were detonated in the water canal that supplies two coal-fired power plants that generate nearly all of the country’s electricity.
• Supplies of drinking water to the nation’s capital, Pristina, were also impacted.
• Damage to the canal has since been fixed.

Who did it? Eight people were arrested in connection to the blast, including three Serbs.

“This is a criminal and terrorist attack with the aim to destroy our critical infrastructure,” Kurti said in a televised address, blaming the attack on Serbia and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

But Serbia claims otherwise:

We have grounds to believe that this was a hybrid attack aimed at discrediting Serbia, and that is why we continue to emphasize that it is in our immediate interest to identify the perpetrators and masterminds behind this attack.
—Marko Djuric, Serbian foreign minister

Both claim the other’s accusations are baseless.

The European External Actions Service agreed with Kurti that this was a “terrorist attack”:

The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack committed on Friday on the Iber Lepenc/Ibar Lepenac water canal in Zubin Potok in north Kosovo. It is a despicable act of sabotage on Kosovo’s critical civilian infrastructure, which provides drinking water for considerable part of Kosovo’s population and is a vital component of Kosovo’s energy system.

Benefiting from division: This attack is the most recent escalation in tensions between Kosovo and Serbia since the late 1990s when fighting erupted between the nations’ ethnic groups.

The rift is a reminder of the division sown in the war that broke up Yugoslavia. Since that war, Europe, led by Germany, has been using the division to bring the splintered nations under its rule.

Learn more: Read Germany’s Conquest of the Balkans.